Her arms curled around the muncs’ shoulders. “My choice,” she told them guilelessly, so they would know this was the right thing, that this was what she wanted. Her knees bent until they too were sinking into the thick mud. Uma and Doony knelt obediently by her side. Her head was well above the surface, but the water closed over their scalps.

Uma struggled a little, as she suspected it might. Doony was completely passive as Yirella held them both under the water. She kept her face completely composed as her little companions died in her tight embrace. There were no tears.

And that was the most frightening aspect of the whole scene for Alexandre and the others who eventually came crashing through the trees, far, far too late.

The Assessment Team

THE ASSESSMENT TEAM

FERITON KAYNE, NKYA, JUNE 25, 2204

By the time Yuri finished telling us about finding Horatio, we still had another five hours on the Trail Ranger before we reached the crash site. Outside the long window, I could see Nkya’s landscape changing again as we descended onto the dusty plain carpeted with red-gray regolith. The beacon posts stretching away to the sharp horizon were almost twice as high as the oddly smooth rocks littering the ground. Ahead of us, the wheel tracks of the earlier caravans cut across the pristine ground, their dark, laser-straight lines a monstrous act of graffiti against a geology untouched since dinosaurs walked the Earth.

“So what did happen on Althaea?” Alik asked.

“We’re still not sure,” Jessika said. “I spent a year on the post-mission analysis. A hellbuster was a good choice. Most of building seven was vaporized, so there was very little physical evidence for our forensic labs to analyze. My findings were inconclusive.”

She was being modest; I’d checked her report myself. There were some interesting facts to be had amid all those secure files. Ainsley Zangari had certainly thought so. For a start, it’s how Yuri claimed the prize: head of Connexion Security. The boss rewards loyalty.

“But the kid came out of it okay, right?” Kandara asked.

I thought she sounded rather amused, as if Yuri had recounted some traditional fairy tale.

“Yes, my father made a full recovery,” Loi said. “Thank you for asking.”

Like everyone else in the Trail Ranger, apart from Yuri, I turned to look at Loi in surprise. I only knew he was one of the third generation of Ainsley Zangari’s offspring, but I hadn’t actually bothered going deep enough into his file to check parentage. I admit the coincidence was slightly unnerving.

“You?” Jessika asked. Her face was lit up with a smile of pure fascination. “You’re Gwendoline and Horatio’s son?”

“Yeah.”

“That is one hell of an impressive how-my-parents-met story,” Eldlund said in admiration.

Loi took a while finishing his espresso. “Depends on your viewpoint. But, yeah, I guess.”